The South African National Bottled Water Association (SANBWA) is putting its members' commitment to high standards and good environmental stewardship under the microscope during January and February, this year.
All bottlers seeking membership of the association are required to subscribe to SANBWA's stringent standards and commit to critical environmental stewardship initiatives as well as submit to a third party audit once a year, to ensure compliance. Most of the audits for the year ending February 2012 will be completed during the first two months of the year.
According to SANBWA chairman, John Weaver, membership of SANBWA is voluntary but strictly controlled and comprises of bottlers of all classes of bottled water (ie natural, defined by origin and prepared waters) whose primary concern is the health and safety of their consumers.
Members therefore willingly conform to the very stringent safety and quality measures contained in the SANBWA Bottled Water Standard, he said. Developed over many years and based on a wide review and consultation, this single standard provides existing and new bottlers with a vision for future improvements by putting six main elements under the spotlight:
• management commitment
• quality systems
• HACCP
• resources (including pre-requisite programs)
• operational controls
• environmental stewardship
Weaver is proud of the fact that the SANBWA Bottled Water Standard benchmarks favourably against international standards. 'The presence of the SANBWA logo on a bottle is a seal of quality and ensures that the water in that bottle is what it claims to be. But if SANBWA is going to award a bottler the right to give that guarantee, it demands its own guarantees, compliance to its standard and a mandatory annual audit by an independent third party auditor. The benefit of such a comprehensive and stringent standard is that compliance is an assurance to consumers and retailers (as well as bottlers of water) that all legal and food safety requirements have been met.'
'It also more than meets SANBWA members' responsibilities for due diligence, reduced food safety risks and compliance with local and international standards and regulations in terms of SA's new Consumer Protection Act. In addition, it helps member bottlers identify the areas where they still need to improve, and assists retailers and consumers to select suppliers of safe bottled water,' Weaver adds.
'Importantly, the SANBWA Standard also provides the basis for SANBWA's annual member plant audits. Conducted by an independent third-party food safety organisation, reporting to SANBWA, the audit confirms members' conformance with the technical and regulatory requirements. Members have to meet all legal requirements and minimum requirements set by SANBWA,' he says.
Bottled water producers entitled to display the SANBWA logo on their bottles, that is all SANBWA association members, account for at least 80 per cent of bottled water production in SA.
Last year, the local bottled water industry grew by 4,2 per cent while directly employing approximately 1 800 people and generating sales of just on R3 550 million. That makes it a pretty significant contributor to SA's economy, and a pretty attractive industry.
The reason for SANBWA's carefully controlled approach to the industry is that all SANBWA members who bottle natural water and waters defined by origin (as defined by www.sanbwa.org.za) are required to only bottle water extracted from a sustainable source, and this source is groundwater.
Groundwater is water that is found beneath the surface of the earth in aquifers as opposed to water found above the surface in lakes, dams and rivers, and is highly desirable because it is largely unpolluted and renewable.
Despite SANBWA members' commitment to good environmental stewardship and despite its low usage figures, some still argue that the bottled water industry is an illogical use of the country's scarce resources, a fact that disturbs Weaver considerably.
He says, 'When assessing the sustainability of SA's groundwater, consideration has to be given to the groundwater recharge rate, and then ensuring that this rate is not exceeded. Recharge is calculated as a percentage of rainfall and can be as high as 20 per cent in the Cape mountain ranges; to as low as two per cent or three per cent in the Karoo; while in Gauteng it varies between three per cent and eight per cent.
'South African legislation covering the use of groundwater is well developed and is directed towards ensuring the sustainability of our water resources, rather than depleting them. Recently published figures for total groundwater usage in SA is 2000 million m3 per annum, with a further amount of 3500 million m3 estimated to be in easy use for future application (Water Wheel Vol10 no6 Nov 2011),' says Weaver.
'The total water consumption by our bottled water industry (production volumes plus incidental use) last year was 0,72 million m3. This equates to only 0,013 per cent of the country's total groundwater usage. Furthermore, bottled water production in SA is a very water efficient business in that it has an extremely low 'water usage' factor,' Weaver emphasises.
'The term 'water usage' refers to how much water is used (volume) to make a finished product. This measure – sometimes called 'water footprint'- includes both direct and indirect water usage (in the bottled water industry, that would be water for rinsing and sanitising bottles, plant and general cleaning and sanitation, vehicle washing, floor washing, toilets etc) and includes water from boreholes and municipal source. The South African industry benchmark is 1,8:1, and there are plants that achieve ratios of as low as 1,3 – 1,4 by recycling their bottle rinse water. The South African national usage of water by the bottled water industry equates to 22,7 litres/second. By comparison, a golf course uses one litre/second per hole or 18 litres/second for an 18 hole golf course,' Weaver explains. 'So the bottled water industry's use is just slightly more than the equivalent used by one golf course. The fruit export industry uses 0,5 litres/second/hectare making the bottled water industry's use equivalent to that of just one 45 hectare farm,' he adds.
